“Life in this universe of time and space is not in any way our ‘enemy’ but a medium of astonishing richness and flexibility, offering us marvelous chances of self-transformation”.

Andrew Harvey

NAMASTE AND WELCOME TO THE WAY UP FREE HEALTH NEWSLETTER TO WHICH YOU HAVE SUBSCRIBED

1. Get good quality sleep and enough of it:

The effect that sleep deprivation has on a person is well documented, and sleeping even one less hour than needed per night will decrease your coordination, concentration, and ability to focus. Also, when you are sleep deprived, you are more likely to overeat, falsely looking for food energy to make up for lost sleep.

If adequate sleep is an issue for you, be sure to make transition time in the evening to prepare for sleep by having an unwinding or relaxing ritual, such as several hours of relaxing, calming reading material, music, or other soothing activities. Do not race up to bedtime with agitating TV shows or other stimulating activities. Your body needs time to unwind from the busyness of the day and to withdraw from the hyperstimulation of our world. . And, by the way, sleep needs to happen in the dark. Even a small amount of light can prevent melatonin production in the body. For more information, please read my melatonin newsletter.

And, if needed to help you achieve a good nights sleep, two of my favorite natural sleep aids are Kavinace & Tryptophan .

2. Eat healthy, eat slowly:

Not only is it important that you eat healthful whole foods and avoid processed foods as often as possible, you should also make time for yourself to make, or procure meals and consume them in leisure. It is important to eat slowly, chewing each mouthfull of food until it is completely pulverized and liquid, before swallowing it. This practice alone, will help you with weight control, help you to extract more nutrients from your food, and decrease indigestion and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Surprisingly, diet sodas often add to weight gain so better no sodas at all. Use green tea for your non water drinks when trying to lose weight. Green tea helps to stimulate metabolism. Use NuNatural NuStevia for your sweetener as is a non bitter stevia product. Stevia is blood sugar stablizing.

If persistent weight problems plague you and nothing seems to help you lose weight, you could havefood allergiesorcandida interfering with your weight loss efforts.

If you need to lose more than 20 pounds, you may want to look into using Mediral HCG drops to help with this. You can find details of the HCG diet by searching the internet. For more about the details of this weight loss concept see Dr.Simeons discussion about how weight loss works with HCG at

You may not have time to make three gourmet meals for yourself, but that's ok. Having a fruit and protein smoothie for one meal is perfectly acceptable, as is preparing foods such as soups, stir-fries, rice and vegetable dishes, etc., to take with you for lunch. Try to consume all cooked foods within 12 to 34 hours of preparing them. Many also do very well with only 2 meals daily.

3. Make time for yourself:

It is essential for your well being that there is time in your schedule for you to you devote to yourself. How you use that time is up to you – whether you spend that time pursuing healing therapies, taking long walks in the park, playing games, playing with a child or pet, listening to calming beautiful music, knitting sweaters, reading books, or relaxing in your bathtub, the important thing is that you find the time for yourself....to just be in the moment with whatever is your relaxation.

4. Be regularly active:

Adapt a routine of physical activity that you enjoy. Stress relieving activities such as yoga, swimming, walking, running, dancing , tai chi, a favorite sport, are to the benefit of everyone. Create a regular schedule, write down when and how you will exercise, just as you schedule other activities in your daily life. If not, you may find at the end of the day you have totally forgotten to treat yourselves to the hoped for physical activity.

5. Spend time in the company of others whom you enjoy:

If you don't have as much social time in your life as you would like, find new activities, join new groups, or begin creating more time to spend with your friends. The benefits of friendship and a support system are numerous and include increased longevity and health.

1. Evaluate your current fitness state. Outline the areas of your health that need the most improvement, whether it is your weight, cardiovascular health, energy level, muscle strength, balance, cognitive functioning, and so on. If you have short-term limitations, design your fitness plan to gradually ramp up so that you don't overdo it in the beginning and then incapacitate yourself for a long term effective program. For instance, if it's a daily treadmill program start with just 20 minutes daily for the first week at only a moderate pace. Each week increase the time up to an hour daily and stay with that at least 5 days weekly. Fits and spurts don't make an effective program. Practice steady application.

2. Set a series of goals instead of one large goal. With your current health in mind, formulate three goals that will gradually move you toward your desired state of health. Start small and focus on health rather than appearance. By setting goals you can achieve in a short amount of time, you increase the likelihood that you'll stick to your fitness plan.

3. Choose a fitness plan that you can stick to. Your exercise program should be one that you enjoy, can do safely, is affordable, and won't take up too much valuable time. Most of all, it's important to look for a plan that involves activities that make you happy. Some people find that the accountability of going to classes or having a workout partner is exactly what they need to get them going; others prefer a solitary practice they can do at their own convenience.

We were told the Mediterranean Diet was healthy. Now we are learning some of the reasons why, as more research is being done on the components of this diet.

The high polyphenol content of "extra virgin" olive oil confers many of its health benefits. The benefits are multiplied when olive oil in the diet is combined with plenty of fish or supplemental fish oil such as EPA-625. The combination works to prevent atherosclerotic vascular disease and to sustain good health through numerous mechanisms.

High polyphenol olive oil increases the beneficial HDL blood lipid, reduces levels of the undesirable oxidized LDL blood lipid, decreases triglyceride levels, and helps to decrease the risk of blood clots as effectively as aspirin does. Additionally, research has revealed some of the mechanisms of action by which olive oil inhibits a variety of cancers, protects against heart disease, and helps protect bones from becoming fragile.

Shingles is a viral infection of a nerve caused by herpes zoster. Two in ten people will contact shingles sometime in their lives. Approximately 1,369 people daily develop shingles in our country. I've seen it in numerous patients and friends in the last year. Shingles needs to be treated early and aggressively with antiviral medications. I have also found that high dose vitamin C, high dose amino acid Lysine, and daily B12 injections can ameliorate the symptoms and speed healing.

A complication of shingles is postherpetic neuralgia, which is persistent pain after the skin blisters have healed. The pain can last a long time and be severe and debilitating. In November, 2009, the FDA approved a pain patch called Qutenza for the management of pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia.

It is non narcotic, so unlikely to cause drowsiness or adverse drug interactions. It provides up to 12 weeks of localized pain relief per application. The patches are cut, as needed, to conform to the painful area.

Are you trying to start a fitness routine and start eating healthier? These quick tips will get you started.

Start small. If you are just starting out, set small goals to help you stay motivated and keep you from getting frustrated when you’re not reaching a large goal fast enough.

Grocery shopping. Make a list before you shop, so you don’t make unhealthy impulse buys. Also, don’t go shopping on an empty stomach or you’ll spend a lot more than you wanted – on a lot of things you don’t need.

Take an aerobics class. Sign up for a class at your local gym. You’ll improve your cardio health and make new friends with similar interests.

Health Benefits of Green Tea

An ancient Chinese proverb praises the benefits of Green Tea, saying "It is better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one." Used as a Chinese medicine for over 4000 years, green tea is now believed to be helpful in preventing and treating a variety of maladies from helping to raise levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL), rejuvenating aging skin, decreasing gas buildup, promoting digestive health, and maybe even helping green tea drinkers burn more fat by improving metabolism.

Green tea is packed with antioxidants that are preserved because of the minimal processing green tea requires. These antioxidants eliminate free radicals that can damage cells and even DNA. Multiple studies have shown green tea's ability to prevent various types of cancer, and help lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Other studies have shown that green tea can help regulate glucose in the body, impeding the development of diabetes and slowing down diabetes after onset.

Results of previous studies have reported that green tea exerts a variety of beneficial effects on stress and inflammation. Kaijun Niu and colleagues, from the Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering (Japan), researched whether green tea consumption had any effect on depressive symptoms. They studied 1,058 community living elderly Japanese individuals, ages 70 and over. The researchers measured green tea consumption and evaluated depressive symptoms via the Geriatric Depression Scale. Perhaps surprisingly, those who drank four or more cups of green tea daily were 44% less likely to have symptoms of depression, than those who drank one or less cups daily. The researchers felt this could be related to the high theanine content in green tea.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has been researching green tea as a preventive for oral cancer in patients with a premalignant condition called oral leukoplakia (white plaques, or patches in the mouth or on the tongue caused by chronic irritation such as with tobacco carcinogen exposure). The five year survival rate of oral cancer is 60 percent. Of those taking the two highest doses 58.8% had a clinical response. They conclued the results were encouraging and that further longer term studies with a higher number of patients is warranted.

In Cancer Prevention Research, 6-19-09, another small sample study was promising regarding prostate cancer. Twenty six men with prostate cancer were scheduled for radical prostate surgery. For an average time of 34.5 days before the surgery, they took a supplement equal to 12 cups of tea daily. Before surgery, a repeat round of blood tests was done. The findings showed significant drops in several prostate cancer-related blood "markers". Some of the men had drops greater than 30 percent. The tests which decreased were: PSA, the conventional marker for prostate cancer and inflammation: VEGF, a protein which stimulates new blood vessel growth in tumors: and HGF, a protein associated with the growth and aggressiveness of a number of cancer cell types.